Self-reported negative cognitions, reactive-reflexive positions and sources of fear in musical performance anxiety
Year: 2007
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: The purpose of this study was threefold: It investigated: (1) debilitating and facilitating musical performance anxiety in relation to negative cognitions; (2) the kinds of positions that young musicians hold in relation to performance anxiety in terms of a reactivityreflexivity dimension (as defined by Toskala & Hartikainen, 2005); and, additionally (3), it examined self-perceived reasons for experiencing musical performance anxiety.The population consisted of 80 young Finnish musicians.The study material consisted of data collected by a musical performance experience questionnaire (MEK), which was developed for the purposes of this study.Consistent with expectations, the more debilitating performance anxiety subjects experienced the more intense negative cognitions they reported.The results did not support the investigator's second prediction which was that the more facilitating performance anxiety subjects experience, the less intense negative cognitions they would report.Although subjects who experienced facilitating anxiety less frequently tended to report more intense negative cognitions, differences in cognitions between the furthest groups, i.e. those who either never or almost always experienced facilitating performance anxiety, were not statistically significant.Qualitative (content)analysis of data suggests that there is great variation in the positions that young musicians' hold in relation to musical performance anxiety, ranging from very reactive to notably reflective positions.The results also suggest that reasons for experiencing musical performance anxiety are diverse, ranging from fears regarding the expectations of a critical audience, to technical worries and the fear of the performance anxiety itself.
Author: Tuulia Nicholls
Language: English
Subfield: Music
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2232470325